Oxygen permeable contact lenses in the prior art are essentially made from siloxane monomer and methyl methacrylate. These lenses are permeable to oxygen; hence, allowing oxygen from the air to pass through the lenses and reach the cornea which allows such lenses to be worn for longer periods of time as compared to non-oxygen permeable contact lenses such as PMMA which were available previously.
Such contact lenses were disclosed in the prior art by Gaylord, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,808,178 and 4,120,570. Later, Ellis disclosed in his patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,152,508 and 4,330,383, the partial replacement of the methyl methacrylate monomer with dimethyl itaconate. The Novicky patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,216,303, 4,242,483, 4,248,989, 4,303,772 and 4,365,074, disclosed contact lenses comprised of high molecular weight of polysiloxanylalkyl esters of acrylic and methacrylic acids. The Chang patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,822, disclosed contact lenses comprised of a copolymer from polysiloxanylalkyl ester of acrylic and methacrylic acid essentially the same as disclosed in the Gaylord patents, supra., that were copolymerized with N-vinyl pyrrolidinone or N,N-dimethyl methacrylamide.
In Ichinoche, et al., Canadian Pat. No. 1,184,341, it teaches the use of organosiloxanyl ester monomer of acrylic and methacrylic acid copolymerized with fluorocarbon ester monomers of acrylic and methacrylic acids and copolymerized to produce oxygen permeable contact lenses. The LeBoeuf patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,389, discloses acrylic siloxane based polymers which also contain HEMA and/or polyvinyl 2-pyrrolidinone which are suitable for use in forming water-containing oxygen permeable contact lenses.
All siloxane ester monomers in the prior art employ essentially the same alkyl bridge between methacryloxy group and siloxanyl part of the structure; wherein, neither one used ethoxy group or 2,3-dioxypropyl groups. The organosilicone monomers of the present invention can be copolymerized with perfluoroalkyl ester monomers and/or with sulfone monomers.